Your brain says cheese

January 20th is National Cheese Lover’s Day. To all Steve Urkels, come celebrate your favorite dairy – from asiago and Monterey jack to Velveeta and Zufi.

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Alright. You might find this confusing… Some say cheese is bad and contributes to Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Some say it’s good as it may reduce the risk of cognitive decline and prevent AD. Here’s what I found…

Gouda news

There are old reports that say the bigger or fatter the body, the smaller the brain 🧠 gets. If cheese and yogurt were also reported to help lower the risk of obesity, then that means it will also aid in preventing cognitive decline. (1)

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Studies have shown that dairy products, such as yogurt and low-fat cheese 🧀 , may indeed prevent Alzheimer’s disease. This is due to some brain-power components of dairy 🐄 , such as calcium, vitamin B12 and probiotics to name a few (as the others are quite complicated for you to even care about. lol). (1)

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An evaluation of 1,183 participants shows that men 👱‍♂️ who had higher protein intake seemed to have lower stress while low-fat yogurt consumption resulted to good memory recall. Women who consumed low-fat cheese, on the other hand, was reported with decreased cognitive impairment. To summarize, low-fat yogurt and cheese contributed to good brain 🧠 health. (1)

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More research, however, has to be done to understand how all cheese components really work within our brain and body. (1)

Camembert cheese neuroprotection

Camembert cheese has oleamide and dehydroergosterol – two anti-inflammatory compounds found to induce microglia that leads to the protection of neurons in your central nervous system. (1)

Microglia is a collection of cells that are key to overall brain 🧠 maintenance. As primary immune cells of the central nervous system, microglia identify threatening foreign bodies and destroy them. (2)

References:
(1) Ano, Y. & Nakayama, H. (2018, June 30). Preventive Effects of Dairy Products on Dementia and the Underlying Mechanisms. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6073537/.
(2) Microglia. (2018, December 7). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microglia.